23 Anecdotes from 2023
Highlights from the year I became a bit more American
1. Anna and I usher in the New Year at the Bronx Botanical Gardens! (Side-note: I have endless respect for the BBG’s gloriously maximalist, semi-incoherent approach to winter festivities. They run an exhibition featuring hundreds of miniature NYC landmarks, made entirely out of materials you might find in a forest… combined with a set of model electric trains running continuously… followed by an outdoor light show… with a guest appearance from a former world-class speed ice sculptor?!)
2. Come Dine With Me: The Musical has a brief workshop then a series of performances at The Turbine Theatre as part of the MTFest. My green card hasn’t arrived, so I can only join rehearsals via Zoom at 5am every day. It’s a stressful time, but the whole team is just magnificent. We sell out every night and get some lovely standing ovations. (Hopefully some spicy updates to follow in 2024!)
3. …and then my green card – incredibly, inevitably – arrives less than an hour after the final performance.
4. Anna and I celebrate our first wedding anniversary! Some friends and family have written us letters that we weren’t allowed to open until now, so we have a fabulous breakfast reading them aloud, before hopping on a train for a lovely long weekend in freezing Philly.
5. Joy and I start working on Hairpiece for the American Opera Initiative. We get to visit Tom at his wigmaking studio to learn about the process and see him in action. It’s a cave of wonders: thousands of wigs, jaw-dropping stories, a place humming with ancient expertise.
6. Spring break! Anna and I go on our second American road trip. Last year was the Southwest; this year, we hit the South. New Orleans: a snapshot of a different America; European buildings; swamp raccoons and alligators in the bayou; jazz everywhere; an unexpected day helping Jean-Marcel put the finishing touches to his nganga outfit and then joining him for the St Joseph’s Day parade. Atlanta: MLK museum; Jimmy Carter Library; Human Rights Museum; gorgeous gardens at Piedmont Park. Charleston: boat trip to Fort Sumter; heartbreaking trip to the former plantation Middleton Place. Richmond: state capitol building; art museum; the ghostly White House of the Confederacy. Then a quick stop in DC, and home.
7. We revive Black Holes Like Donuts – with the same stunning cast and director – for Theatre Now New York’s SOUND BITES festival. Inspiring to see the piece receive a full production!
8. Ellie and Caleb come to visit. They stay with us for five days in NY, then we hop a bus back down to DC to spend a long weekend at my godparents’ house. Cue a stream of museums, Bananagrams, dodgy homemade cocktails and manic laughter.
9. Noah’s graduation! Very proud brother. And as always, I’m hit by a wave of phantom nostalgia for an undergrad experience I never had.
10. Eliza and I get flown out to Chicago for the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project. A wonderful, often challenging week: new friends, inspiring mentors, lots of sushi, a couple of new songs, until I have to fly home for…
11. …the Magdalen Ball! The first one my ole alma mater has pulled off in seven years. Tons of all-too-real nostalgia as Anna and I don our gladrags and immerse ourselves in the ridiculousness of it all: open bars, dodgems, food carts, shisha, silent discos, everyone in penguin suits. (Incidentally: my first ever back-to-back all-nighters!)
12. A gorgeous summer. I feel very lucky to have my Green Card and be able to travel again.
13. Sperm makes the shortlist to be fully funded by the BFI. Emilia, Max and I have a great interview, but ultimately no dice. Rejection is never fun – but we brush ourselves off and start the long journey of raising money piecemeal.
14. Chelsea and Kyle’s wedding! My first time in (scorching?!) West Virginia. Harpers Ferry, roadside markets, foosball with the cousins. The most beautiful celebration. I get initiated into the secret Verdin family dance moves.
15. Steve Lutvak – my teacher, friend and sometime employer – dies very suddenly and tragically. He was the most generous, dynamic, fabulously indiscreet person you could ever hope to meet – and, of course, an amazingly gifted singer-songwriter. In the days and weeks following, I listen to his songs on repeat; Lenny becomes my most-played song of 2023.
16. Joy and I head down to DC for a workshop of Hairpiece at the Kennedy Center Studios. It’s my first time workshopping an opera – eek! The singers (all Cafritz Young Artists) are extraordinary, and the mentors are terrific. All in all, it’s a frenetic, difficult, invaluable week full of revisions and reversions. Very inspiring to see three new operas finding their feet.
17. Brooke, Carrie, Eliza, Anna and I make our annual pilgrimage to Harvest Moon Orchard for a day of apple-picking. A really fab day, group and tradition. (Eliza masters the apple cannon!)
18. 2023 is a year for experimenting in new genres. Obviously there’s the opera with AOI. But I also finish GameStop (my first TV pilot), and write most of a song cycle with Bela, and join the NYU opera lab, in collaboration with the American Opera Project.
19. Noah takes me to my first ever basketball game and we cheer on the Brooklyn Nets from Row Z. A narrow loss – still enjoyable despite paying $32 for two beers.
20. “Time Slows Down” from Black Holes Like Donuts makes the final of the Stiles & Drewe Best New Song Prize, and I fly back to the UK just in time for the event at The Other Palace. We don’t win, but the theatre is rocking and I feel very lucky to have such amazing friends.
21. Eliza and I are invited to Manhattan School of Music to hear students singing our work! A crazy talented bunch, and some fascinating group discussions.
22. Alex comes to NY for the second time, and we have a lovely weekend of museums, ice skating, and avant-garde theatre.
23. Lastly, a very happy Christmas spent in Luxembourg with Anna’s family. Long walks, mince pies, brandy butter, ping pong, ravioli-making, lots of love and the most wonderful company.